The overall goal of this program project is to characterize auditory deficits associated with presbycusis and to determine their neural bases, thereby enhancing our understanding our understanding of sensorineural hearing problems that have become part of the aging process in modern industrialized societies; and to expedite the application of such knowledge to prevention, early detection, diagnosis and improvement in the treatment of presbycusis and other sensorineural hearing problems. The Administrative Core will serve two major classes of functions: scientific and fiscal. The scientific functions are to aid the investigators in optimizing excellence and progress of each Project towards its goals in part by encouraging interaction not only among the Program participants but also with other scientists whose work is pertinent to the Program. These functions will be achieved through several actions outlined below, including support in the design and analysis of experiments. The fiscal responsibilities will be carried out in a number of ways that include budget preparation for each Core and Project, monitoring the monthly status of these budgets, and communicating this status to the Project and Core Leaders.